Foreshadowing
by s. du jour
Summary: The bonfire at La Push on the night the Cullens left. Set during New Moon, obviously. Some Sam/Leah and hints of Jacob/Bella. Not angsty, despite the title. Written because you can't get any more awesome than illegal fireworks. I mean, uh...


**A/N: It's been ages since I read any of the Twilight books, so if there any inconsistencies about whether it was Sam Uley or the police who went to investigate the bonfire, I'm sorry about that. So you can think of it as an AU if it's not correct. I've kinda turned anti (is that something I should admit to people who have the power of life and death—i.e. reviews—in their hands?), but I still wanted to write this, and I'm still continuing my other Twilight stories.**

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"Come on!"

"Shh!"

There is scuffling and giggling around the outside of the house. Instantly awake, Leah Clearwater darts to her window and ducks her head under the frame. She can see figures outside in the moonlight, and she knows who they are.

"Hey!" she calls in a rough whisper. The heads of her brother and his friends whip around, startled and guilty. They relax when they see that it's only her and not Harry or Sue.

"What's going on? Can I come?" She knows they're sneaking out to mess around, maybe even go to a party, and they won't want her there—neither does she really want to be there, but he doesn't know that. Yet. Leah loves her little brother, but it's fun to tease him and make him sweat.

She's surprised by his answer.

"Everyone's having a bonfire on the cliffs—the Cullens are gone!"

"You're kidding me! You didn't think you were going without me, did you?" She means it.

"I thought you were at Emily's tonight!" Seth says apologetically.

"Nah, I came home early. Wait a second and I'll be right down."

She grabs a pair of shorts, and a t-shirt that's only been worn one day, and steps outside her window, hanging from the sill and using the drainpipe to scale down the outside of the house. It's only taken her thirty seconds, but already by the time she gets down, there's nobody there. She's not surprised.

"Damn kids," she growls goodnaturedly, and takes off, barefoot, for the cliffs and the light and noise that she knows is up ahead.

The trees and the dirt feel more earthy in the dark. Leah laughs silently, exultant. They're gone! She moves faster, and faster… soon everything's going by in a blur.

All too soon, she gets there just as the celebration is getting under full swing and the fire is gigantic. She throws a stick into the heart of the flames as she joins the group—a ritual they began a long time ago.

People call out:

"Leah!"

"Hey, Leah!"

The mood is infectious. Leah waves back with a burgeoning grin on her face—but first she has business to attend to. She makes her way past the crowds over to where Seth is talking to Verity, and cuffs him on the shoulder.

"Couldn't wait, huh?"

"Ow!" Seth protests, laughing, batting her away. He's a little self-conscious in front of Verity—she's older than him by about three years. "It was meant to be a joke!"

"You're an idiot," Leah grins.

"So are you!"

"Am not!"

Leah whacks him again.

"That's right, Leah!" somebody calls. "Show him who's boss!"

Quil gets in on the act, then Jacob, then Lucia, and then it's a play fight with everybody attacking everybody else, nobody on the same side, and all of them laughing fit to burst. Legs, arms, feet tangled up everywhere, like their calls and cries and elated shouts. There's simply too much joy in the air to hold anything in.

"Hey everybody!" calls Embry, a little way closer to the cliff. His voice is choked with excitement. "Come look at this!"

A few heads turn, but he doesn't really make too much of an impression until the first firework rises heavenward with a crack and a boom.

The tumble stops almost instantly, a few friendly blows still connecting with their targets, but almost everybody settles down to watch the show. Leah hugs her knees, drawing them up under her chin.

Jacob throws another log on the fire and settles down.

"Is that legal?" somebody asks as another firework skyrockets from the edge of the cliff.

"It'll land in the sea. It's not going to hurt anyone," answers Leah.

"Shhh!" says Seth.

Leah rolls her eyes at him as Embry's display lights up the night. All the hatred they've carried, pent up for so long, seems to explode and dissipate into the air with each blast.

The fire is smaller, the moon higher, the supply of fireworks exhausted, and the group less animated, though still just as large, when somebody calls out, "Hey, it's Paul and Jarod!"

"And Sam Uley." Jacob's words are slurred by a couple of drinks and the light and warmth of the bonfire.

Sam frowns down at him, as he throws a stick into the fire. "You're drinking?"

"It's just a couple. Lighten up, Sam."

"You're late, guys," says Verity. "Where've you been?"

Sam's face is grim. "I was checking up on Charlie Swan's daughter."

"She okay?" asks Jacob, suddenly alert.

Sam deliberates for a minute before answering: "She's… not handling it well."

"Oh," says Jacob, his face clouding. He can guess what that means.

"About time she stopped hanging out with _them_," says somebody. Most of the La Push crew spit on the ground or into the fire.

"You got another girl, then, Sam?" says Leah, on the opposite side of the fire. Her smile betrays her fake jealousy.

"Never," says Sam, going over to kiss her. Everybody can see how his face changes when he looks at Leah Clearwater, and everybody can see that he doesn't care who knows that he's in love with her. Bella Swan is forgotten now.

"Never anyone but you," he says, softer, and moves in for another kiss.

Leah, conscious that everybody is watching, slaps him away playfully. He grabs her anyway and manages to kiss her cheek before she ducks out of his arms and dances away from him.

Everybody applauds. They're ragged at first, but somehow the claps turn into a beat.

And they're all off again, clapping and dancing and whooping, spinning each other in circles and yelling strings of words at each other that are meant to be conversation; but the grins on their faces are so wide that it's impossible to get out a coherent speech before you're passed to the next partner, and the next, and the next.

Dizzy, Leah drags Sam away from the dance and reaches for her beer. She takes a fresh one for Sam and offers it to him.

He takes it with an incredulous look at her. "You're drinking? You never drink!"

She shrugs loosely, happily. "I'm not gonna go crazy. It's a special occasion, that's all."

"You got that right." He downs half his beer in one go and reaches for her other hand. She lets him take it, then flings him into the dance again.

They are all one big dancing family, dancing under the stars, feeling the warmth of the flames on their bronze skins. They are tribal, untouchable.

Until the police arrive, that is. It turns out that people have been complaining about the noise. Not to mention the fact that Embry Call's fireworks were most definitely illegal.

But not even that is going to dampen the relief. The Cullens are gone and now everything can—_will_—go back to normal.

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**Reviews are muchly appreciated :) Concrit welcome, as always.  
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